Invisible Ties
by Schleubleu
Summary: Soldier's blunder strikes once again. This time, the BLU Engineer is sent through time and space, straight into the world of Fire Emblem : Awakening. Desperate to return home, he must cope with his new allies while he looks for anyone capable of sending him back. On hiatus due to Holiday.
1. Chapter 1

DeGroot Keep. A castle, wooden stakes, and eighteen mercenaries fighting to the death to capture or defend the former over and over again. They wouldn't be bothered by that concept, really, had they been fighting for gravel instead of an ancient Scottish fortress that was mysteriously unsieged and uncaptured whenever it got sieged or captured. Every stay in the medieval landscape felt pointless and unproductive, especially since nobody was getting paid for their hard work even though the Administrator's voice ringing through high-tech speakers proved that their employer was watching them killing one another.

During every ceasefire, the BLU Soldier could be heard for kilometres around supervising his team's « in shape staying session ». His RED counterpart would have done the same, was he not busy patrolling his base's deserted remparts. Thus, BLUs could be heard panting as they ran circles around their instructor, whose barking would make anyone wonder whether he actually saw the efforts his team was putting up with through his helmet.

Apparently, he did, as he motioned for the joggers to stop and step aside. He slowly walked towards the resupply closet, standing up straight. « Private Yellow-Hat ! » He bawled at the Engineer, who he saw as fiddling with scraps of metal. « This is a battlefield ! You wouldn't want to not show the world how World War II should be thought like centuries before it happens, now would you ? »

« For your information », coolly replied the soft-spoken grease monkey, « We wouldn't have to go back to sticks and stones if you hadn't caused the wrath of that goddamn roomate wizard of yours. »

Before loud protest could ensue, the Engineer resumed « Besides, while you were teaching already overtrained mercenaries how to hold a sword the 'American way', I ... » He paused, pushing a button on a stone PDA. The gadget he was working on began rotating, faster and faster, until a blue, circular votex appeared on top of it. « … Have managed to recreate a teleporter and, thanks to Spy, it will lead us right into the RED base as soon as this ceasefire ends. »

Soldier was silent for a moment, until he heard Heavy giggling behind him. Snapped out of what could have turned into humility, he shouted « Congratulations on following MY instructions, Engie ! At least you're good at something ! » Earning invisible rolled eyes from his goggled ally. « Your next mission is to verify whether your invention works or not ! Hop onto it, now ! »

Engineer was about to point out that this was strictly forbidden by ceasefire rules and that a make-do teleporter couldn't be trusted with the teleportation of human beings in its prototype form, when Soldier shoved him onto it, causing his disparition accompanied by the familiar blue flash following every teleportation. « And now we wait and lend an ear. » Said the patriot, effectively turning his left hear towards the castle, using his left hand like a funnel. « Any second now. »

The whole team carefully observed the citadel. « Any … Second now. » Repeated Soldier. After some time, Heavy got bored and decided to eat a couple of Sandviches. As he opened the resupply closet, he looked down, his eyes bearing an expression of confusion, then of distress.

« Little teleporter. » He called out. Soldier bid the others to not look at Private Fatso and instead focus on the soon to be cries of pain of Engineer which would come from the castle. « Little teleporter. » Insisted Heavy, earning similar answers. Eventually, he walked up to Soldier and forcibly turned his head towards the teleporter. « Little, little, LITTLE teleporter ! »

The stone contraption was now reduced to a small wooden crate, a poorly designed Red-Tape Recorder lying next to it. « Little RED Engineer must have had good idea of making Sapper before teleporter ! » Declared Heavy. « Engineer is gone ! »

« Mission begins in sixty seconds. »


	2. Chapter 2

That Engineer was mad at Soldier went without saying. However, one less obvious event is him not panicking at the sight of the time vortex. It wasn't obnoxiously loud or painful. There was no air to breathe, but it felt like breathing wasn't even necessary. If anything, this trip was pleasant, instructive. Who knew time travel without magic was possible, even though the hazard of a teleporter stone protoype being forcibly reverse-built had to but added to the equation ? This was a major discovery, one which the scientific community had to know about.

This train of thought was interrupted, however, by a vision. A still rectangle shaped portal appeared in the vortex, which kept on rushing by. Since there was nothing else to watch, Engineer decided to witness what could only be described as an epic battle inside a temple. Three figures could be identified from the vision's bird view : two on the left, one in the middle. Despite the distance, their conversation was clearly audible. « Up there ! » Said one of the left side figures, wielding an oddly designed sword. What was most likely an ally of his shot a miniature thunderbolt at the middle side figure from its hand, but missed, the discharge landing on a nearby pillar, ripping it apart. Engineer almost felt ashamed of how weak the Short-Circuit was compared to what he saw.

The middle side figure laughed similarly to Merasmus, although less beaming and more evil. « You fool ! » Declared it solemnly. It managed to pin the swordsman on the ground, and held his hand high up. A purple sphere was slowly being formed above it. « Die ! » He roared. Before Engineer could see the outcome of the battle, the portal closed, only to be opened again a couple of minutes later. The middle side figure was lying on the ground, very likely dead and gone.

The swordsman was holding his ally up, who was most likely wounded. « Are you all right ? » He said. « That's the end of him. Thanks to you, we carried the day. » Engineer couldn't help but to let a small smile escape from his lips. Not since his departure from Bee Cave had he seen one person actually caring for another. The closest thing to that was Medic deploying his Übercharge on him to help him save his sentry which was being assaulted by the RED Heavy, Demoman and Soldier at the same time. His memory was cut short, though, as the swordsman whimpered in pain, a thunderbolt similar to the one shot earlier piercing his stomach. Engineer blinked several times under his goggles. This vision ended too, leaving him perplexed. But before he could give what he just witnessed too much thought, he saw the end of the time vortex in the distance. In less than a second, it closed in, blurring Engineer's vision.

He was still conscious. The time vortex was painless. Excellent news. However, wherever he reappeared must have been very high up, as he could feel himself falling, faster and faster. « Guess that just ain't my day. » Was his last and most sarcastic thought of the day, before momentary excruciating pain struck him as he passed out.

He was quick to wake up. At least he thought that was the case, considering he woke up at all. He no longer felt the familiar sensation of his hard hat, but could still feel his goggles. Examining his surroundings without moving an inch, he first felt that he was on a mattress, although drastically more comfortable than the ones he had slept on the past decade. Thanks to his goggles, the many people at his bedside didn't know they were being observed. « Isn't that embarrassing. » Was the first sentence he caught, followed by two well-marked laughs. « Back on topic, » resumed the voice on a serious tone, « I'm starting to think your adventurer could have survived without any healing spells. I only know how to use Heal staffs, and those usually take weeks for major injuries. »

Engineer supposed that the 'adventurer' was him. Spy had taught him a few tricks about waking up in counterintelligence territory and gathering information, except that, unlike what Spy would be very likely to believe in the situation he was in, Engineer was probably in neutral territory, as well as indoors and in a hospital. He was about to pretend to very slowly wake up, when he heard a shrill cry coming from outside, followed by panicked racket from which he could make out « under attack », « help » and roars of laughter. The two people attending him had left, soon replaced by a single tall, muscular man. He was bare-chested, wore an unidentified animal's skull as a hat and another's skin as a cape, seemed to have never touched a shaver in his life, and wielded a gigantic axe.

« Well, well ... » He said, smile on the lips. « What do we have here ... » As he approached Engineer's bed, turning to a chest of drawers, searching loot of any kind. Easily putting two and two together, the false patient rose and removed the glove his right hand held to reveal a cybernetic hand. Holding the Gunslinger high up, he silently let it crash down on the barbarian's head, killing him instantly. It may not have been fair to murder someone who probably didn't have the experience of countless deaths to harden, but Engineer didn't doubt a single second that he would be next on the bloodied axe's list. He trippingly recovered his hard hat and slowly crept through every corridor of the building he was in. He upped his pace when he smelled the familiar smell of ashes taking over. As he neared the exit, he saw through the door's glass panes that a much stronger looking barbarian was guarding the building. Analysing the rest of the battlefield, the mechanic saw other bandits being slaughtered by much more elegantly dressed fighters.

He wanted to stay hidden until the battle was over, but the burning hospital began collapsing from far and wide, forcing him to force the doors open, unsurprisingly getting the alpha bandit's attention. The latter's confusion immediately turned into odious joy. He said « Here, sheepy, sheepy ! Come to the slaughter ... » And readied his axe. A small and oddly dressed man such as the one before him couldn't be much of a threat, he thought. However, as he was delivering his blow, Engineer made an impossible dodge right next to him and pulled a string on his robotic hand, which began to spin furiously.

He thrust it forward.


	3. Chapter 3

« Did you do it ? » Asked Chrom. His newest ally, Robin, shook her head furiously. « Frederick ? » Chrom turned to the knight, who let his disgusted face speak for himself. Southtown was plundered, but few victims were to be lamented. Instead of the bandits' attack, all the attention was turned to their leader. In Layman's terms, there was a gaping hole in his chest, as if it had been ripped apart from the inside. Chrom hopelessly turned towards the doctor of the village.

« Grim. » He declared. « But we might have a trail. » He motioned to the woman behind him to take a couple of steps forward. « Tell him about your adventurer. »

« Yes. » She said, holding her tears back at the sight of the haggard corpse. « No later than yesterday, I found a man in the middle of the forest. He must have fell from pretty high up, you know, he was in a deep, deep crater. Well, sir, he was alive, albeit unwell. He recovered almost instantly when the doctor used a Heal staff on him. »

Chrom was given a physical description of the man in question. Making out what 'solid yellow hat' and 'dense glasses' meant took some time, but thanks to the doctor and his assistant, the Shepherds now had an identity sketch of the potential brutish lout and confirmed reported missing that was referred to as 'Mr. Hard-Hat Glasseyes'.

Meanwhile, a fair distance to the west from the pillaged Southtown, Engineer was counting on his sense of direction to find a less destroyed town or village. From what he heard about his recovery, magic was commonplace wherever he ended up, meaning there could be a magician as powerful as Merasmus, hopefully benevolent enough to send him back to DeGroot keep. Since it was getting dark, he searched two silex and resorted to the only way to keep warm in medieval mode. Unsurprisingly, his campfire seemed to set the forest in motion, faint steps and rustling bushes silently echoing through the fire's light. Slightly crouched, Engineer was prepared to take on whatever would come at him. Perhaps he didn't quite expect, however, that a heavily breathing and bruised young man would jump at him from the shrubbery.

Conscious enough to speak, he looked up to Engineer, and froze. Although a mask hid his eyes, one could perceive that his entire body was shaken by fear. As the mechanic approached to help him up, he backed away in a spasm, almost a reflex. He pointed an accusing finger at Engineer and slowly asked in a raspy voice « Who are you ? »

The situation was uneasy, to say the least. Was a wounded a man who didn't even have enough strength to clench his fist around his sword a threat to eliminate ? « Now, now. » Said Engineer in his usual calm and kind tone. « The name's Dell Conagher, I'm an inventor and a traveller. » He held his robotic hand out to be shaken, earning the futile defensive stance consisting of crossing both arms in front of one's face and looking away from the wounded. Mutely sighing, he resumed « Look, I ain't gonna hurt you or anything. Here, I'm going to the other side of the campfire ... » He did as he spoke « … And how about you tell me a bit about yourself ? »

Although the young man hadn't bolted away and was now painfully sitting in front of the campfire, he hadn't said a word to Engineer. The only interaction that wasn't related to backing way he had had with the grease monkey was throwing a flask and a chunk of meat over flames. The inventor's sincere thanks did not open him up in the slightest. Instead, he eventually said « You lied to me. You are not a traveller, otherwise you would be transporting supplies with you, yet you have no bag or container of any sort and do not own a mount. » He paused. « And your clothes are weird. … Most unusual. » He quickly corrected himself, putting his serious appearance right.

At least that slip reassured Engineer. He wasn't dealing with a hardened warrior. « You're right. » He replied. « I'm not a traveller, but I have enough PhDs to be worth eleven of whichever inventors you have round these parts. » He didn't mind the puzzled look on the young man's face when he said 'PhD' and went on « As for my gear, I'll buy less shocking clothing the moment I can. » His eyes tried to identify where the injured one's were looking. After observing him for a while, his best guess went to the Gunslinger. « Curious about that, are you ? » He asked, taking his interlocutor's head slightly bending forward as a 'yes'. « That there's the Gunslinger, one of my inventions. I usually tell people that I lost my hand and decided to build another one, but just for you, I'll make an exception. » More of Spy's tricks included putting others at ease around you. « I made this here hand with all ten of my fingers. From the beginning I intended to upgrade myself. Once it was complete, I asked a specialist to cut my hand off and graft that one on top of wrist. I'm satisfied by the result. »

Despite the mask, Engineer didn't have any trouble realising that the young man became colder and colder as he told him his robotic hand's story. « You lounged for power, didn't you ? » He asked hotly. Protest was about to rise, but was cut short by the swordsman growing fury. « You've given up on your very hand just to be better than everyone else. » Apparently, pure hate was the best adrenaline for that particular man, as he was now holding his sword effortlessly. « Give me one good reason not to ... » He began, but instead of ending his threat, let out a cry of pain and collapsed on the ground.

One of the situation to be avoided in unknown neutral territory had sadly taken place. Engineer knew that there was no reasoning with the man. Thus, he decided to extinguish his fire to prevent wild animals from coming by and decided to carry the wounded to the closest safe area he could find. After a small walk, it turned out to be an abandoned fort, filled to the brim with supplies and odd gourds labelled 'potion'.

It was still pitch black and uncannily silent when the ground shook under Engineer's feet. It was light, short, and didn't impair his balance in any way, so he dismissed it as a common occurrence. Then he saw it in the distance.

A swordsman. His back was turned to Engineer, but even from that angle he didn't look right. The mechanician was about to ask him about his health, but the very moment he stepped forward, the fighter did a U-turn and charged. Thinking fast was a good way to avoid painful deaths back in the badlands. So Engineer waited for the perfect moment, dodged and launched his Gunslinger fist towards the swordsman's face. The death was instantaneous and followed by the body slowly fading into nothingness. « I guess those trickstabs aren't just a whole load of crock then. » Chuckled the victor to himself. « I don't really need anything else but my touch if every darn hostile here's skull is so soft. Almost makes me regret taunt killing that barbarian back in town. »

His train of thought was interrupted by the familiar sound of an arrow missing by an abysmal margin. Feeling as if he was back in DeGroot keep, Engineer made a mad dash towards the archer, pinned him to the ground, readied his right fist, and stopped. « I said that I was sorry. » Came the faint voice of his assailant. « Now if you'll excuse me, you're not really my type, so, um … Let me go, please ? » He did. Slowly backing away, he got a better look at the archer. He didn't look like much of a fighter, really. His clothes were too elegant and his grey hair were tidy. « You must be wondering who you've almost disfigured like a brute, don't you ? » He asked. He performed an unnecessary twirl before declaring « I, am Virion, the man who puts 'arch' in … What are you doing ? » His attacker was already on his way to find civilisation, not bothering to listen to the archer's rambling. « No, no ! Don't leave yet ! Surely you need my help to survive in those woods ? » Engineer stopped and turned towards him, raising an eyebrow. « Okay, maybe you don't, but could you at least … I don't know, tell me your name ? Your quest ? Your favourite ... »

The gallop of a horse interrupted him, as an armoured rider rushed past them. As Engineer, who had watched her go, turned back to where Virion stood, he had to admit that his presence wasn't as effective as seconds ago. Adjusting his hat, he realised that the night was ending. He saw a castle in the distance. From the fantasy books his niece would send him every month or so, he knew that usually, where there was a castle, there was a king, supported by a wizard.

His next destination was all laid out before him.


End file.
